Anticipation from Stephen Marley fans was running high as the July 2011 dates for the New England area shows approached. It had been four years since Stephen Marley had performed in the Boston area with his own band on the 2007 Mind Control tour - the same year that Stephen's Grammy winning debut solo album of the same title was released. After performing at two major festivals in Canada, the tour in support of Stephen's new album, Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life, returned to the US as the bus rolled into Burlington, VT to begin a series of four shows in New England.

While I couldn't make the Burlington, VT show, I was happy to make it to the remaining New England area shows: Lupos in Providence, RI (7/10), Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, MA ( 7/13), and the House of Blue Boston (7/15). Each show was special in its own way. Setting the party like atmosphere alive at all the shows, DJ Gee Fus from Stone Love hyped up the crowd, then introduced the band well known to long-time Stephen Marley fans, comprised of Christopher Meredith on Bass, Ranoy Gordon on Guitar, Nicholas Laraque on Sax/Flute, Bowie McLaughlin on Keys, Squidly Cole on Drums, Llamar 'Riff Raff' Brown on Keys, and supporting vocalists Erica Newell & Rochelle Bradshaw. Stephen then appropriately kicked off the set with Punky Reggae Party.

The approximately two hour set list contained a nice mixture of hits from Mind Control, including Chase Dem, Mind Control, and Hey Baby as well as several Bob Marley classics Buffalo Soldier, Jammin, Could You Be Loved and Three Birds. The balance of the songs were from his new album, which certainly pleased the audience especially on several previously released new favorites such as No Cigarette Smoking featuring Melanie Fiona and Jah Army featuring Junior Gong and Buju Banton.

Stephen Marley @ Providence Lupos (click on each one for larger view)

Stephen Marley @ Boston House of Blues (click on each one for larger view)

A surprise guest in Providence and Hyannis

Spragga brings his high energy style to Providence

As Stephen introduced his hit songs Traffic Jam from Mind Control and Jah Army from The Root of Life, he referenced his younger brother, Damian "Junior Gong" Marley which drew enthusiastic audience support. While Damian was not present for these particular shows, Spragga Benz ignited the crowd by Joining Stephen on stage during Iron Bars in Providence and Cape Cod shows and stayed on stage with the Ghetto Youths Crew to perform.

Another surprise in store for Hyannis and Boston

In Hyannis as well as Boston, the audience was in for a special treat when big sister Cedella Marley joined in on the Bob Marley classic 'Could you be Loved', the final song of the set before the encore. This especially delighted fans that have been following the band since the days of the Melody Makers.

A strong encore closed out the show starting with Three Little Birds as the fans sang along to the well known lyrics of "don't worry about a thing , cause every little thing gonna be alright" Made in Africa & Tight Ship followed from his new album before ending the show with the internationally beloved anthem One Love.

Keeping the family vibe fresh, many of Stephen's children were present on stage and either sang, danced or waived the Rastafari flag in a celebration of One Love uniting fans new and old. It is my hope that similar to the 2007 tour, Stephen Marley and The Ghetto Youths Crew will soon return to the Northeast for a second run.

On Sunday June 5, 2011, the York College Performing Arts Center in Queens, NY came alive as reggae supporters & industry professionals from near and far arrived to support Mighty Crown's Reggae 4 Japan Benefit Concert. Featuring a line up of Reggae's leading performers, the sold out benefit proved to be a big success. As promoted, all artists were present including a number of surprise guest performers and audience members to provide their support to aid the humanitarian relief efforts for the victims of Japan's recent Earthquake and Tsunami.

ReggaeReflection was on hand to capture the essence of the event. Many artists spoke of this cause as near and dear to their heart since they have always received great love and support from the Japanese Reggae Community. Reggae Reflection had a chance to catch up and have interviews with new recording artist Ziggi Recado of Amsterdam, a surprise performer at the show as well as veteran artists Freddie McGregor and Maxi Priest who both have a significant presence in Japan.

Photo Credits this Section: Marlon "Ajamu" Myrie

View more photos of Reggae 4 Japan in our Reggae Reflection Gallery

The International Reggae & World Music Awards better known as the IRAWMA was originally established in 1982. According to the official website, www.Irawma.Com, the mission of the award show "acknowledges and honors the accomplishments and contributions of Reggae and World Music artists including songwriters, performers, promoters, and musicians". The award show has been held in multiple locations with NYC being the home for the last 8 years. Billed as being the Grammys of the Caribbean, Martin’s International & Associates announced in November of 2010 that Port of Spain, Trinidad would the location for the special 30th anniversary of the IRAWMA. Since many consider Trinidad as the “New York” of the Caribbean, Trinidad seemed to be an ideal choice for this prestigious event held on Saturday, 05/28/11 at the National Arts Performing Association (NAPA).

NAPA in Port of Spain is a fairly new state of the art performance hall, the perfect setting to stage the elaborate production, and to provide the appropriate ambiance for a world class event. Just as the sun began to set in Port of Spain, the Red Carpet was active for about 2 ½ hours as Artists, Presenters, and VIP Guests were greeted with with music by a Steel Pan performance before proceeding to stroll the red carpet in their formal attire, pose for photos, and take part in various interviews with the local and international media outlets.

IRAWMA Red Carpet Glamour

Reflecting the local flavor of the location, lovely young ladies dressed in vibrant orange and green carnival designs along with Blink Bmobile attendants were present along the red carpet.

The exterior of the venue featured an outdoor stage where a local reggae band entertained the small general admission section until the ceremonies commenced shortly after 8:00pm. Two large display screens allowed the general admission patrons to view the award presentation.

NAPA Sets the Stage

NAPA Photo Credit: UrbanIslandz

NAPA itself is a spectacular venue offering multiple levels of graduated seating. The brilliant stage showcased glass pillars illuminated throughout the evening and featured a gold globe podium adorned with a musical note, a miniature replica of the actual award given to each winner. Tony Rebel, the master of ceremonies for the evening shared his hosting responsibilities with Shaggy and 4-time Grammy winner Deniece Williams. Tony Rebel who has previously hosted the show numerous times along with Shaggy kept the audience entertained with their quick humor and Shaggy’s flirtatious antics with the ladies on the stage.

The massive stage allowed for the celebrated Saxophonist Dean Fraser and Friends backing band to glide back and forth throughout the evening when providing live music for the opening instrumental set as well as backing solid performances by reggae artists Rocky Dawuni (Ghana), Gramps Morgan(Jamaica) and Tarrus Riley(Jamaica). Additional performances of the evening included TnT artists General Grant and Soca Elvis; an instrumental Steel Pan set by The Mighty Dow (St. Maarten); DJ’s Macka Diamond and Tifa (Jamaica); and Machel Montano (TnT), the final performer of the evening.

And the Award goes to......

Awards were presented in 48 categories encompassing multiple genres of Caribbean and World Music. While the first segment of the show focused mostly on award presentations, the second segment of the show featured award presentations interspersed with the numerous performances of the evening. Four artists were recipients of multiple awards.

Freddie McGregor not present at the event, tied with Mighty Sparrow for Most Consistent Entertainer and received a special award for Master of Reggae.

Shaggy and Jah Cure were tied with three awards each. Shaggy received the coveted Entertainer of the Year Award, and was also recognized in the Community Service and the Marcus Garvey Humanitarian Award categories. For the latter awards he paused for a serious moment and humbly accepted the awards. He then spoke about his belief as a public figure to engage fame, talent and time for the good of all and recognized the Bustamante Children's Hospital staff in Jamaica, an organization that Shaggy has been involved with for some time.

Jah Cure, not present at the awards, received awards in the categories of Most Educational Artist, Award for Spiritual Service and Best Song for ‘Unconditional Love' featuring Phyllisia.

Machel Montano the King of Soca in his home country was a crowd favorite and picked up the most awards of the evening, taking home awards in five of the seven categories in which he was nominated: Most Outstanding Stage Personality, Best Male Calypso/Soca Entertainer, Best Caribbean Entertainer, Most Outstanding Show Band, and a special King of Soca award. For his last award, he had his youngest daughter join him on stage and noted that while she was not an entertainer, he celebrated her work as a scholar echoing his earlier sentiments as he previously had thanked his parents in the audience for their encouragement early in his career for him to put his studies first.

Other artists present to receive their awards included: Tarrus Riley, Best Male Vocalist; Dean Fraser, Best Instrumentalist; Macka Diamond, Best Female DJ; Rocky Dawuni, Best African Entertainer; Tony Rebel, Award of Honor; Isidore “ The Mighty Dow” York of St. Maarten accompanied by his family was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award; Ricky Jai, Best Chutney Entertainer, a new category introduced this year and a special recognition to co-host Deniece Williams.

The award show ended just after 11:00pm with an entertaining group finale of “One Love” backed by Dean Fraser and Friends and accompanied by all the artists, winners, and many presenters in this final celebration of unity through music. For a full list of categories and winners: http://irawma.com/vote2011.html

IRAWMA 2011 Photo Gallery by Reggae Reflection

The International Reggae and World Music Awards better known as the IRAWMA was originally established in 1982. According to the official website, www.Irawma.Com, the mission of the award show "acknowledges and honors the accomplishments and contributions of Reggae and World Music artists including songwriters, performers, promoters, and musicians". Over the years, the annual award show has been hosted in numerous locations throughout the US as well as in Jamaica. For the 30th Anniversary, several locations were reviewed before Port of Spain, Trinidad was chosen. Having attended the IRAWMA for the last two years in NYC, this award show unlike other award shows I've been to includes the celebration of world music categories such as Soca/ Calypso, Salsa/Latin, Reggaeton, Hip Hop, Gospel, Poet, Soukous and Chutney, a new addition to the more than 40 categories of nominations. In just the past couple of years, I've had the pleasure to see top entertainers perform at the IRAWMA including Tarrus Riley, Julian Marley, Machel Montano, Beenie Man, Calypso Rose, Mighty Sparrow, Queen Ifrica and Tony Rebel to name just a few.

Nominations for the 30th Anniversary were announced on 3/16/2011 and voting on the website has officially commenced. Leading the list with 8 nominations is Jamaican Reggae Artist Gyptian who gained international recognition last year with his top charting cross-over song "Hold Yuh", followed by 7 nominations each for Trinidad & Tobago's favorite King of Soca, Machel Montano and Damian "Jr Gong Marley" who is recognized for his recent album collaboration & full tour with NAS. New to the list of nominees is rising reggae star I-Octane who has burst onto the scene with multiple nominations at the IRAWMA while claiming 3 awards at both the recent NYC Linkage Radio Awards in NYC and the Excellence in Music (EME) Awards in Jamaica. With visa limitations restricting many of Jamaica's top artists from traveling to the U.S. I hope to see many of those artists in attendance in Trinidad to support this significant milestone in celebration of World Music.

Stay tuned for more info on the 2011 IRAWMA including the announcement of scheduled artist performances. Please take a moment of time to view the full list of nominees and cast your vote. http://irawma.com/vote2011.html

When I first heard about the Buju Banton & Friends show scheduled in Miami on the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend, I knew this was one concert I was not going to miss.Bayfront Park Amphitheatre in Miami is a favorite place of mine to see a Reggae concert, having previously attended many Marley Festivals in the same area.Heading to a warm destination during this very cold & snowy winter was definitely a strong selling point!Arriving in Miami the night before the show, I felt positive about the weekend ahead.Unexpectedly two things occurred that confirmed my belief.While attempting to find parking near my hotel in South Beach, I discovered that the Buju & Friends official after party was being held at Mansion, a club only two blocks away.Then upon checking into my hotel, I glanced down and noticed the latest New Miami Times magazine on the counter featuring who else but Buju Banton with 'Free the General' as the cover story! This is certainly going to be a trip to remember.

photo at Reggae By the Lake CT Summer 2010

Perfect sunny weather in the 70s made for a glorious start for the day ahead. I enjoyed the morning by exploring South Beach by foot before heading into Miami. Underestimating the amount of traffic getting out of South Beach as well as the gridlock encountered in the vicinity of Bayfront Park, I finally arrived about 5:00pm to find long lines of patrons already awaiting security checks to get into the park. A familiar sight brought a smile to my face. Amidst the crowd was the “peanut man” with his wheel barrel full of peanuts for purchase. Many of you will know whom I am referring to. He seems to be at every big event in Boston, CT, and NY as well as Florida. It was also nice to see the representative from 4Seasons Party Cruise out of Atlanta working the crowd by handing out flyers for their upcoming 15th Annual Cruise featuring Freddie McGregor, Wayne Wonder, Marcia Griffiths and more taking place in October 2011. I made my way through the standard security check and of course the first person I saw was my favorite photographer, the very talented and famous photojournalist Roy Sweetland of Sweetland Photos / Buzz Magazine capturing the vibrant essence of the day through his lens for LIME TV.

Press representing writers, photographers & videographers for web and print based media traveled from all over. Jamaica was heavily represented as expected, with LIME TV, a sponsor of the event having a large team present that were easily recognized by their matching LIME green ‘Before the Dawn’ T-shirts. For those unable to be in Miami the show was broadcast live on LIME Mobile Tv. A media team from World A Reggaebased in Amsterdam, and Irie Vision from San Francisco were among those that I encountered that traveled the most distance along with many other media outlets from NY and Florida as well. While the general sentiment from the Press was that access was too restrictive by only allowing press to photograph and video from the press pit during the first song of each artist’s set, the majority made the best of the situation and were happy to be part of this event.

Everton Blender

Newcomer Richie Loop kicked off the festivities about 6:00pm as reggae fans were still steadily streaming into the venue, followed by veteran artist Everton Blender who performed an enjoyable set of crowd favorites. More of the biggest names in Reggae were soon on their way to center stage to perform several of their well-known classic hits. Quality sets from Nadine Sutherland, Freddie McGregor, Wayne Wonder, Gramps Morgan, Wayne Wonder, Tarrus Riley & Dean Fraser, Shaggy, and DJ Khaled were well received while entertaining the sold out crowd. There were also many surprises in store throughout the evening as special guest artists graced the stage to the delight of the enthusiastic audience. Surprise guests included Sean Paul, Spragga Benz, Gyptian, Mykal Rose, Rayvonn, Serani, and Busta Rhymes as well on DJ Khaled's energyzing hip hop set, the final set before Buju's long-awaited performance.

Carmelita Harris (Irie Vision) & David Oscar Markus

Quite a few of the artists made appearances in the Press area to be interviewed and pose for photographs including Everton Blender, who was the first artist welcomed by media eager to obtain his thoughts on the event. Other artists that I observed in the Press area were Nadine Sutherland, Freddie McGregor, Wayne Wonder, Gyptian, Tarrus Riley, and Gramps Morgan. Buju’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, also made a brief appearance sporting a bright green ‘Free Buju’ T-shirt and graciously took time out of his busy schedule to speak with reporters and pose for pictures with some members of the media.

Buju's Friends Command the Stage

The highly anticipated arrival of The Gargamel to the stage

Buju Banton

Around 10:00pm, Elise Kelly of Irie FM Jamaica had the privilege of introducing Buju as he appeared on stage performing many of his classic hits as well as new material from his 2010 Grammy nominated best Reggae album, 'Before the Dawn'. Beginning with his timeless classic ‘Destiny’ he performed every song stronger than the previous with each song taking on a more personal and profound meaning during this unique performance. When singing the verse of ‘Sleepless Nights’ with lyrics referring to losing trust, it was obvious that to the contrary this audience had most definitely not lost their trust and faith in the Gargamel, despite these times of turbulence. Nearing the end of Buju’s stellar two hour performance, he was joined on stage by several of his closest friends. Marcia Griffiths a long time friend and mentor to Buju was a surprise guest and performed a duet with Buju. Although Beres Hammond was also rumored to be appearing, Buju took a few moments to explain to the audience that Beres was not able to make it after performing a late night set at Rebel Salute the previous night.

As expected, good friend Stephen Marley joined Buju on stage for three songs. Starting with a most appropriate song for the occasion, he sang Duppy Conqueror. Damian Marley further ignited the audience’s excitement during an encore of Stephen & Damian’s hit song ‘Traffic Jam’ before the three continued with their new song collaboration, ‘Jah Army’. Before the night was over, Wayne Wonder and Gramps Morgan returned to the stage to perform their hits with Buju. And Buju’s lawyer, David Oscar Marcus, also appeared briefly on stage at the very end before the venue’s curfew ended the show. If not for the curfew it seemed as though Buju could have continued until the morning with his tireless energy.

Buju with friends Stephen Marley, Damian Marley and Wayne Wonder thrill the audience with their song collaborations

Closing Reflection

VIP Section of audience at close of show

A lot of media hype and high expectations led up to this historic event. When describing this event as historic, at least a few people questioned my description. I have a very simple response. The circumstances of this event are unprecedented. Fans of Buju Banton will always show their support for their favorite artist, however this time, most everyone had an additional purpose to be at this show. Traveling from near and far, fans came in steady fashion to show their love and support for Buju before he heads back to court next month. No one can predict the outcome, however, I’m certain that Buju felt the love and positive energy surrounding him from the sold out capacity crowd to his closest friends and colleagues as well as the media on hand to document the evening. Too often these events are held in memory of a passing artist. This concert displayed great unity that brought everyone together for the right reasons and will hopefully serve as a positive model for future endeavors to come. After returning home to Boston, I reflected upon my experience and reviewed the photos that I had the honor to take. I realize that words alone simply cannot express the feeling of being at this event. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. My hope is that the pictures fully convey the emotion that Buju and his closest friends put forth as well as the joy and love coming from the fans in support of a great artist. Much will be written about this event by the various media outlets. This is just my personal reflection, which I shall remember as a day not to be forgotten.

Photo Gallery of Buju Banton & Friends 'Before The Dawn' Concert

PHOTOS

A Reflection in Time

Reggae Reflection is a collection of images and news items relevant to the current reggae music scene. While much of the coverage may take place in the North East, Reggae Reflection will highlight artists and events of interest from around the globe.